The Other Side of the Salt Ring
by cnk80q3ohio
Summary: What happens when Dean and Sam Winchester come across a hunt that takes them down memory lane to the one summer where they had "Normal"... Was it all an illusion, or was that town hiding a secret even then?


**Prologue: What was to come was here before...**

Present day…..

She was tired, no she was beyond tired, she was exhausted, and she had one hell of a headache. For the last week her sleep had been disturbed with snippets, or flashes if you will, of the same disturbing vision. Each time she closed her eyes to get some sleep the vision returned, nothing clear, just complete darkness with a little voice calling out for help.

The vision has never varied over the last few nights other than gaining in intensity, however with each passing night it has been getting clearer. Instead of trying to see through mud and seeing nothing, she was now dealing with a very heavy fog that reminded her of the fog banks that would roll into the bay where she grew up.

She knew that she had to let the visions come to fruition on their own, because she has learned over time that if she tries forcing them she will suffer from more than lack of sleep and minor headaches, unconsciousness would be the least of her troubles.

Wishing her last client of the day a good evening, she went to fix herself a light dinner and some chamomile tea, hoping it would help her sleep easier. After finishing her light dinner and tea, she made sure the house was secure with her protection lines and wards, noting that everything was in working order she headed upstairs to bed. She just prayed that whatever message this little lost soul was trying to say to her would finally be clear tonight.

It started as soon as she closed her eyes and succumbed to sleep; she was always an "observer" in her visions, there was nothing that she could do but watch as the scene unfolded before her. Tonight s vision was like looking through a lightly frosted over window in the early morning of a new winter's day; she watched as what appeared to be two young boys running; it was difficult to tell with all the haze; the one in the lead was more like dragging the younger one behind him because his little legs couldn't keep pace with the older boys. If she had to guess, she would say that the younger of the two was possibly 4 or 5 yrs. old and the other, the one in the lead was maybe double his age. They were running for their lives, from what she did not know..

The older of the two and in the lead kept looking back over his shoulder, to maybe gauge where their pursuer was and possibly giving words of encouragement to the younger one to keep moving.

"Just a little bit more, you can do it, just need to get across the fence line" the older one said breathing heavily.

"I'm scared!' the younger one said "He's gonna get us!

She could still not see the boys clearly but she could feel the youngest one's fear and the older boy's determination in getting them to safety. Normally she did not "feel" what the subjects in her visions were feeling, but with these two young boys, she felt what they were feeling as if they were her own! She tossed and turned in her sleep mumbling, encouraging the two to continue running, hoping they would soon reach the fence line they were looking for, or at least a place to hide.

The longer she was able to hold onto the vision the clearer they usually became….. the area that the boys were running through was heavily wooded from what she could make out, not that that would be much help in locating them. These woods could be anywhere from a local wooded park to the Appalachia Mountains.

She just continued to "follow" along with the two boys and their frightened flight through the woods. Hearing the snapping of branches and the crunch of leaves on the ground and the muttering's of the older boy, she noticed that the surrounding area was becoming clearer to her, she could make out a not very used trail, and the surrounding tree trunks, and the little bit of sun that was forcing its way through the heavily dense foliage helping to guide them in their flight. However the boys themselves were still in shadow, it was also at this point that she noticed they were not alone, there were other young boys with them, all were running scared..

The only voice that could be heard was from the boy in the lead, the whole time encouraging them all to hurry and to stick together in a hushed tone, so as not to give away their location. There was something familiar about him, she couldn't figure out from where. It was worrying, but she pushed it to the back of her mind, it would come to her in time.

Her view of the scene changed, her arms started to sting from the branches that kept hitting "her" arms and "her" right knee ached like she had fallen and scraped it; it was then that she realized that what she was now feeling and viewing when she looked back and down was as if she as one of those scared young boys. She blinked, and looked up….. She was "seeing" through the eyes of the littlest boy, the one being encouraged and dragged along by the older one.

All of a sudden the boy in the lead pulled up short, breathing heavily, but never letting up on the tight grip of the little hand in his. All the other boys stopped as well, looking to him on what to do, asking in hushed tones why they had stopped and what they were going to do.

"Quiet" he whispered harshly.

The boy in the lead cocked his head to the side so he could listen; "she" looked around using those little boys eyes and saw 6 others, all breathing heavily, dragging in as much air as they could in this brief respite of their mad flight to get away….. She could also see a little clearer now, all the boys were not very old, maybe a couple was as old as 11 or 12, but everyone else was younger.

She swallowed thickly wishing she had some water or juice,

"Can I have some water?" she asked, looking up at the older boy; he knew the answer before he finished asking by the look on the older boys face; "Sorry, he mumbled" looking at the ground.

The older boy knelt down and put his hands on her shoulders, "I don't have any, you just gotta hang on a little longer okay, were close, I know it! I will get us out of here!" the older boy said; "I Promise"

"Okay" she said nodding and swallowing thickly.

She noted that all was quiet around them, too quiet… suddenly they all heard crashing and the snapping of branches to the right of them; all the boys whipping their heads in that direction expecting him to burst through the trees at any moment, but he was still far enough away, but they could still hear his taunting words;

"You can't keep running, surely you are getting tired by now" he said laughingly; there was a pause in his taunting.. then they heard "Soon you will be mine!" it was whispered, just loud enough that it drifted to them on the light breeze….

Her breathing sped up; she could feel his fear as if it were her own. She moved closer to the older boy's side, gripping his shirt she looked up into the green eyes of the older boy; Jerking in sleep from the shock, God she knew those eyes, she would recognize them anywhere…..they belonged to Dean Winchester, she now knew that she was looking through the eyes and feeling the fear of Dean's younger brother, Samuel Winchester.

She heard herself say in a small scared voice; "Dean I'm scared, what are we going to do? I wish Daddy were here!" she was scared and had started crying quietly and was gripping his brother tightly around his waist, not letting go; never letting go!

She watched as Dean knelt down in front of her, wiping away her tears. She knew that Dean would make everything all right, he always did, he was "Captain one-Helluva-big Brother!" he had never let him down; he wasn't going to start now.

Putting his hands on Sammy's shoulders, Dean started to speak, "Sammy, it will be" he never got to the okay part because at that time the "Monster" crashed through the trees, Dean jumped up and grabbed his brother's hand and yelled to everyone "Run!"

With a jerk she woke up yelling "NOOOOO!" her breathing heavy, and her heart trying to escape her chest, she leaned against the headboard of her bed, trying to calm her breathing. With a shiver she pulled the comforter up and tried to shake off the remnants of the vision.

It made no sense…..

After she had her breathing under control, and her heart was no longer trying to escape her chest, she made her way downstairs to her kitchen. She needed some tea, hell, she needed something stronger; but if she went that route, she would never figure out what the vision was trying to tell her. Most visions were never direct, they hinted at possibilities, by the choices that the people involved in them made, if they made different choices the vision would be different. It was just one "possible outcome".

She needed to figure out what it all meant; was it a portent of what was to come? Sam and Dean were no longer children; "hell, were they ever children?" she thought to herself; and as far as she knew, nothing like what occurred in the vision had ever remotely happened to them. However she would not put it past the mighty John Winchester, Knight of the Brotherhood to brush something like this aside….

While it was still fresh in her mind and waiting for her water to boil for her tea she pulled out her notebook and started to write. Rubbing her eyes and closing her journal, she glanced at the clock and was surprised that it only read 2am, she felt as if she hadn't slept at all. It was too early to start her day, so standing, putting her tea cup in the dishwasher she decided to try and go back to sleep. As she climbed the stairs to her bedroom she prayed that the rest of the night would be peaceful. She soon discovered that would not be the case….

She slipped back into sleep surprisingly easy, but found herself once again back in the vision. However this vision was different from the earlier one, this vision was in the bright light of day, and she could see clearly all around her. She found herself once again in a heavily wooded area looking through a set of eyes not her own.

She did not know who's eyes she was seeing through, but it was no longer a child's view; the height difference was a good clue… as well as when she was looking down at her hands, they were large, a man's hand not a child's. And it held a gun.

She felt the burn of each indrawn breath into his lungs, the burn of the muscles in his calves from an extended run at a fast and unyielding pace; as well as the sting from several cuts and scrapes across his raised arms and face from low hanging tree branches and the brush he was pushing through. At this point she could not tell if she was fleeing from a stalker or chasing someone. Suddenly she realized that he was talking to himself, repeating the same thing over and over again….

"You are NOT taking him away from me! Not like this! I just got him back!

So, he was the one in pursuit!

Still pushing through the brush she caught a glimpse of someone, always managing to stay ahead. No matter how much she pushed himself to go faster he could never gain any ground.. Suddenly he broke through the brush into a large empty field, his quarry and his brother gone! Just vanished into thin air. What the Hell!

Breathing heavily and falling to his knees, yelling out for his brother;

"DEAN!" leaning forward onto his hands, he gulped in more air and yelled once again "DEAN!" "DEAN!" He stayed kneeling at the edge of that field for over an hour yelling his brother's name; the only answer he ever received was silence!

She now knew that she was once again seeing through the eyes of Sam Winchester, him and Dean must be on a hunt that has gone sideways…

She jerked in her sleep when suddenly the vision changed view. It was now completely black, she couldn't see anything, but she could definitely feel; she was seeing and feeling through someone else now, and she had a suspicion that it was Dean.

Suddenly she jerked to full consciousness feeling the excruciating pain throughout her entire body as her hands were tied down above her head with zip ties, God she hated zip ties, cutting into her wrists as she fought the bindings. She got a couple of nicely placed kicks to their abductor's midsection, hopefully, couldn't see shit with the complete darkness surrounding her. Dean was at a disadvantage with her hands bound, plus her head felt like it was being ripped off his body, she most likely had at least a mild concussion.

Getting punched in the ribs again, possibly 1 or 2 broken if not badly bruised, and not being able to draw breath gave her captor the advantage of finally being able to finish tying her legs down. Drawing in a ragged breath, she laid there trying to stop her world from spinning and possibly from throwing up, when she felt a hot breath close to her ear..

"Are you ready to have some fun Dean?" The spirit asked "I know I am, I'm going to have so much fun breaking you. I told you once before you couldn't escape me!"

"Get the Hell away from me you freak!" she yelled; However the spirit just laughed quietly and said "Shall we begin?"

The spirit placed his hand on Dean's chest and all she felt was pain radiating out from the touch; trying to breathe through the pain, she clenched her jaw, holding back the screams that wanted to break free, but she wouldn't give the bastard the satisfaction of hearing them.

The pain stopped as suddenly as it had started, breathing fast and irregular, she tried to get her heart rate back down. She noticed that the pitch black room was now deathly quiet except for her indrawn ragged breathes. She also knew that she wasn't not alone, the room was still freezing, sure sign that the bastard was still there, observing, trying to make her squirm.

Dean grunted out through clenched teeth, "That all you got?" while smiling through the pain he was feeling; he said "I've had little girls inflict more pain than that with a single punch!"

The spirit chuckled quietly and watched as she laid there breathing through the pain he had inflicted with a single touch and being mouthy about it…. "Oh Dean, Dean, Dean, you and I are going to have such fun times together. I always knew you would be a fighter, even when you were little. I was sad when you got away from me then, but I am so looking forward to our time together now and believe me, I am going to take my time!" the spirit said quietly

"Oh and you can scream if you want Dean, no one can here you here" as the spirit once again placed his hand on his chest.

"Bring it on Casper!" Dean said belligerently, while silently praying for Sam to hurry and find him. The pain hit again more intensely, screaming with the renewed pain, She was happy to slip into unconsciousness…..

She woke this time screaming, feeling the residual pain that was being inflicted on Dean, and her headache was back with a vengeance. She needed to find out what these vision's meant, how they were connected to each other over time. They obviously involved the Winchester's, wherever Sam and Dean were now; they were in need of help and quickly.

Taking a deep breath picking up the phone and dialing, the voice on the other end answered with a sleep filled voice. "Hello?"

"Mackland" she said "where are Sam and Dean?"

Mac, not being quite awake answered slowly, "On a hunt in Columbus, Ohio" he answered. Finally recognizing the voice on the other end of the line, Mac was instantly awake and asking; "Why Missouri? What's wrong? What did you see?"

"Mackland, all I know is, is that those boys need help, Dean especially" Missouri said, worry painting her voice as she spoke to the Scholar of the Brotherhood.

"Missouri, their on a simple haunting, something light, easy and pretty much routine to ease Dean back in since he's been back" Mac said, but he had a note of worry in his voice, Missouri would not be calling for something trivial. He asked once again "What did you see?"

Missouri answered hurriedly, "Those boys are in trouble and Dean…. Dean is not doing well if what I saw in my vision is to be believed. I am hoping and praying that it was wrong" But both Missouri and Mac knew that whenever she had a vision they always came true. "I am going to start making my way to Ohio, as soon as I can get packed" she said.

"I'll call Caleb and Bobby and we will meet you in Columbus, tomorrow or the day after" Mac said, "Be careful Missouri, these are trying times"

"You too Mackland" Missouri says before hanging up. She stood there sending a silent prayer up, hoping that they weren't too late.

She quickly threw some things into an overnight bag and sat down, waiting for her taxi to the airport. Pulling out her journal, she wrote down the details of the second vision. Somehow the 2 visions were connected but she wasn't sure just how yet. She hoped that once she had a chance to talk to Sam, it would all come together for her. She just prayed that they weren't too late to save him…


End file.
